Posted on September 10, 2020 in Divorce

Maybe you're thinking about asking your spouse for a divorce. Or maybe you've already had this conversation and it's time to turn your attention to the process itself.

Either way, it's a must that you protect your finances to the best of your ability. Neglecting to do so will add stress to an already difficult time in your life.

There are a variety of ways to protect your finances as you prepare for divorce, including but not limited to the following:

• Create a property and debt division checklist: This is a list of all the assets and liabilities that will come into play during your divorce. For example, common assets include the family home, bank accounts, retirement accounts and motor vehicles. Liabilities are things such as credit cards, personal loans and home equity lines of credit. When creating this checklist, make a separate list for any assets and debts that are individual, as opposed to marital.
• Create a budget: Your post-divorce budget is critical to maintaining financial stability. When you create a budget early on, you have a better idea of what to expect after your divorce is finalized. Keep in mind that your budget in the future won't be anything like your budget from the past.

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 Posted on September 04, 2020 in Divorce

When you found out that your spouse was cheating, you were furious. You were upset that they weren't honest with you and that they didn't seem to care that they broke your trust.

Immediately, you felt like you wanted to get divorced, but you know that your spouse's adultery could be made public. Your biggest concern is privacy with this delicate issue, but you do want to make sure you walk away with what you need. Does proving adultery impact your case? If so, is it beneficial to bring it up in court?

If your spouse cheats, it could help your case

The first thing to know is that a case of adultery isn't necessary to get a divorce. You can divorce for any reason in Virginia. As a result, the adultery itself doesn't have to be reported to start your case.

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 Posted on August 26, 2020 in Divorce

You wake up to find a note from your spouse on the kitchen table. It tells you that they're done with the marriage, they're leaving and they're not coming back. Now what? Can you seek a divorce?

Technically, you are still married. You can get a divorce on the grounds of desertion or abandonment, however. That enables you to legally end the marriage so that you can move forward with your life — even if it's very clear that the marriage is, for all intents and purposes, already over.

There are a few things you should know. If your spouse claims that you did something to make them leave — like abusing them — then that changes everything. It's not desertion in the law's eyes if they had reason to leave. They may even attempt to seek criminal proceedings against you.

The next thing that you should know if that desertion is not the same as mutually agreeing to part ways. For instance, if you and your spouse had a conversation about taking some time apart and they decided to do it, you can't claim they abandoned you. Couples often take time apart to see if they can make the marriage work or if they need to get divorced.

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 Posted on August 21, 2020 in Divorce

Virginia divorces can be contentious over a variety of issues, not the least of which is property division. Understanding marital property vs. separate property is one aspect of a case. However, there are circumstances in which the property can be categorized as part marital and part separate and the division will be based on personal effort in raising its value. Knowing what the law says about this can be a fundamental aspect of a proceeding and have a significant impact on the outcome.

Separate property vs. marital property

If a person had a certain property prior to the marriage, it is considered theirs even if the couple divorces. Also, if there is property accrued after the marriage and it is by inheritance, gift, devise or survivorship from anyone except the other party, it will be separate property. If separate property is sold, the proceeds belong to the spouse who entered the marriage with it or acquired it in the above ways. If there is income that came about through the sole effort of the spouse who owned it beforehand, it belongs to that spouse.

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 Posted on August 21, 2020 in Family Law

Parents in Virginia love their children and will do what they believe is best for them as they grow up. This means that parents need to provide for their basic needs such as food, clothing and a roof over their heads. However, parents also provide for healthcare, daycare, various school trips, electronics needed for school or other reasons, sports, other activities, take them on trips and provide for many other things to enhance their upbringing. This means that parents need to spend a significant amount of money on their children.

It is important that parents provide for their children whether they are married or divorced though. Both parents need to continue to provide financially for their children even though may not have as much time with the children as the other parent. This is why one parent is usually ordered to pay the other spouse child support when they divorce.

The amount that that a parent will pay for child support is generally based on the child support guidelines. These guidelines are based on the parents' monthly income, the number of children and other factors. However, sometimes a parent is not able to pay the guideline amount due to unique circumstances or sometimes a parent needs more than the guideline amount. In these cases the parents could seek a deviation from the child support guidelines.

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 Posted on August 11, 2020 in Child Custody

People going through divorces in Virginia have to make many very difficult decisions during a very emotional period of time in their lives. It is not easy to separate a life that the two had built together. In many instances people are not leaving on the best of terms either and may be upset with the other spouse because of what led to the divorce. This emotion may affect all of the decisions that people make and make it difficult to reach compromises on the various issues that need to be resolved.

If the spouses are not able to reach agreements on the issues, ultimately the decisions will be made by a judge. In making the various decisions, the judges will analyze the specific facts of the marriage which are presented to them at a trial. They will then apply the various laws and cases to the facts to determine the outcome. The type of analysis the judge will use depends on the decision they are making at the time. When making child custody and visitation decisions they will analyze various factors to determine what is in the children's best interest.

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 Posted on July 30, 2020 in Divorce

People don't get married because they imagine they will eventually get divorced. Marriage is usually the result of wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone. Unfortunately, relationships and the people in them change, and not always for the better.

You and your spouse may have slowly grown apart in recent years, especially if your children have left the home. You may have discovered an affair, or your spouse may have developed a very dangerous habit, like gambling or using drugs. When you can't imagine staying in your marriage anymore, it's time to take action to protect yourself.

Filing for divorce is not an admission of responsibility for the failure of your marriage. In fact, being the one to file for divorce when you know that your marriage won't work out is the responsible thing to do. It could even put you in a better position as the divorce proceeds.

You can get the documents you need before your spouse hides or changes them

Divorce can make people very emotional, resulting in uncharacteristically unethical behavior in someone who is otherwise a good person. Some people will go so far as altering financial records or destroying them so that their spouse doesn't know about certain assets or income.

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 Posted on July 27, 2020 in Child Custody

Child custody negotiations in Virginia often involve determining what arrangements and plans will serve the best interests of the impacted children. Arriving at custody determinations for different children can require parents and their attorneys to take very different paths since different kids can have very divergent needs. There is no one size fits all approach to child custody, and it is therefore important that families provide as much information as possible to their attorneys and the courts so that sound decisions can be made.

It can be tempting for parents to wish to hide some of the or information about their less than perfect parenting when the custody of their kids is on the line. However, concealing information or providing less than complete truths can be detrimental to their cases. This post addresses some of the types of information parents should be prepared to convey when they are negotiating for the custody of their kids.

• The health of the parents: A parent who has received a negative diagnosis may want to conceal that fact from the family law court, but a parent's mental and physical fitness are important custody factors.

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 Posted on July 13, 2020 in Family Law

Back in February 2020, before the current COVID-19 pandemic essentially shut-down the nation, a Chesterfield, VA couple's divorce case proved to be a game changer when it comes to the subject of spousal support in Virginia. In it, a court ruling was made that would allow judges to consider more than just the legal grounds for a divorce when making a ruling on support, thereby providing much needed clarity on an often muddy subject.

In this particular case, the parties both agreed to a "no-fault" divorce, which also included the wife filing a motion to bar her adultery from being brought up in the divorce proceedings. Since that was the case, the judge ruled that the wife would receive spousal support of $45,000 payable over a 5 year period. Because the husband and wife had agreed to a no-fault divorce and her adultery would not be discussed, he did not expect to be ordered to pay her support.

Feeling that this just was not right, he appealed the decision. He believed that although barred from the divorce proceeding itself, the wife's adultery was able to be discussed regarding spousal support in accordance with a 2016 amendment to the spousal support law. It turned out that the appeals court agreed with him stating that anything which brought about dissolution of the marriage by either party should be taken into consideration.

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 Posted on June 29, 2020 in Child Custody

Like other states, Virginia has a rule that requires parents who are subject to custody and parenting time orders to let each other know if they plan to move.

Specifically, the law of this state requires that any parent who wants to move for any reason, whether they have custody or simply exercise parenting time, must give the other parent 30 days of advance notice. The notice must be in writing.

Courts do have some leeway to alter this rule. For instance, if a parent has a good reason not to provide advance notice, the parent can obtain a court order to that effect. A good example of this is where the other parent has been credibly accused of abuse, and the parent wanting to move is trying to protect herself or his child.

Also, courts can modify exactly how much notice each parent has to give and can tailor it to the circumstances. For instance, for a local move down the street, a simple letter or note with the new address may suffice.

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